Symphony orchestras which encompass bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, double bass, and other string instruments, frequently perform at holiday celebrations that often include fireworks or light shows. At such performances, as well as those more typically classical in nature such as chamber orchestras or string quartet concerts, transferable lights on the bows of the string instruments would artistically enhance the performance, by playing on a darkened stage, for example.
A bow for a string instrument includes a shaft or specially shaped stick with a ribbon of approximately 150 horsehairs stretched between its ends, from the tip or head of the stick to the frog, which holds and adjusts the tension of the horsehair and encloses the mechanism responsible for this action. The stick is often made of rare or expensive rainforest woods, such as Pernambuco, and the frog is typically made of ebony. Consequently, well-made, rare, and antique bows command high prices. Performers are therefore reluctant to modify their bows in any way that would mark or alter the surface of the bow, such as by applying tape or glue to the stick.
Therefore, there is a need to attach lights to a string instrument bow without marking or altering the surface of the bow in any way, with a switch to turn the lights on and off.